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The «Hope for Haiti» telethon, organized by George Clooney, will be held this Friday, Jan. 22nd, in different cities around the world, to raise funds for the reconstruction of Haiti. Several US TV channels will air the event (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT, starting at 8 pm EST), with other international channels joining, such as BET International, CNN International, National Geographic and MTV Networks International.

Bruce Springsteen’s appearance in he event has been confirmed by MTV. Other artists involved include prominent actors and musicians such as Sting, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Bono and The Edge, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Zac Efron, Bradley Cooper, Renée Zellweger, Courteney Cox, David Arquette or Colin Farrell.

All performances will be on sale Saturday at the iTunes store for $0.99, and proceeds from these sales and the telethon will go to organizations like Oxfam America, UNICEF or Red Cross.

The occasion deserved it: it was the tenth anniversary Light of Day concert, held this time in Asbury Park for three days (15th, 16th and 17th of January). These three nights of music concerts to benefit the research of Parkinson’s disease included dozens of performances on different stages in the famous New Jersey seaside town.

On Saturday, the largest concert was held at the Paramount Theater, before nearly 2,000 people. Springsteen took the stage mid-show to sing «Heaven Help the Lonely» with Willie Nile and «Broken Radio» with Jesse Malin. Towards the end of the evening the Boss came back onstage to join Joe Grushecky & The Houserockers and sing with them for an hour and a half, including Grushecky originals («Talking to the King,» «Never Be Enough Time»), the song both singers wrote together («Code of Silence,» «Another Thin Line») and a good assortment of Springsteen songs («Atlantic City», «Johnny 99», «Darkness» or a surprising «Pink Cadillac»). «Twist & Shout» was the encore song, with all the evening’s musicians on stage.

This was the seventh time (of ten years) Bruce Springsteen has actively participated in this series of benefit concerts for Light of Day.

See complete set list.

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The People Speak is a History Channel documentary, aired on Dec. 13th in the U.S., based on the books A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History. The film weaves archival footage and interviews with performances by actors and artists such as Springsteen, Bob Dylan, John Legend, Matt Damon, Eddie Vedder, Morgan Freeman,and others. Many American musicians have donated their music for this film, including Bruce Springsteen, who contributed «This Land is Your Land».

The song, however, does not appear on the soundtrack CD, for which Springsteen donated an exclusive acoustic version, recently re-recorded, of his song «The Ghost of Tom Joad». The album also includes unreleased versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder, Randy Newman, Taj Mahal, Jackson Browne, John Legend and others.

Another documentary, this time on the election campaign of President Obama, contains Springsteen’s music. It is named By The People, The Election of Barack Obama, whose soundtrack (re-titled By the people, for the people) includes a live acoustic version of «This Land Is Your Land», recorded at Obama’s rally in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on October 6th, 2008. This album is only available in digital form at the iTunes store.

According to AP reports, Clarence Clemons underwent surgery for his back injury last Wednesday, January 13th at a hospital in New York. Clarence is well, and is expected to complete his recovery in the next months. On January 11th, The E Street Band’s saxophonist turned 68.

photo copyright 2009 Tim Young